I am glad that the lady will include the positive interactions that you have had with her in your file.
Thank you for keeping us posted/up to date on the status of this process.
I hope it helps you to get it out here..and share.
You are such a strong woman. Congratulations on your not drinking this long...it is really impressive.
bizi

Kay,

I understand about how having info can make you feel less lost/tied up in the process.

It is good that you are watching your meds and adjusting.


M

I still have to be very careful what I say to this evaluator. The more risk factors you have, the more counseling they dump on you. But being voluntarily sober for this long is a huge plus.

Oh, yeah.
Absolutely.
You can never trust anyone working in that kind of position.

You have done fabulous with your sobriety.

M

kay, I hope you have a nice weekend.
(((((HUGS))))
bizi

Thank you Mari
You told me to keep my head down before I went to the driving class and I should have taken your advice then.

At the class the instructor had us write down and turn in what happened before, during, after our arrests. I wrote that I was full-blown manic at the time, but didn't mention the s/s attempt. They also have a list of my meds and what they are for because the docs had to sign off on them twice. I'm on 5 different psych meds. 4 are for bipolar disorder.

So bipolar disorder will come into play. At least I don't have to manufacture a reason for why I quit drinking, but I'm going to have to be very careful about how much I share.

I see my pdoc on the 28th. I'm going to ask her to write a letter stating how proactive I am in my care and how closely I work with her monitoring and managing my bipolar disorder- and bring it to the evaluation.

I figure anything I can offer to show that I've been taking care of my problem on my own will help reduce the amount of counseling they recommend.

this sounds like a good plan kay.
((((HUGS)))))
bizi

Kay,

Does the amount of counseling affect this?
1 cost
2 time to getting license back


(What else? I am following but sometimes I get lost. Sorry)
3

The person doing the evaluation decides how much counseling (how many weeks/how many sessions) I need based on standardized tests and an interview. I don't know how much each counseling session costs (over $100), but I have to pay for every one of them out of pocket. I can't get my license back until I've completed everything they've recommended AND the counselor is satisfied.
Because I have to do my counseling in my home state, I have to pay drunk.org an additional $350 out-of-state monitoring fee which is ********.

$200 substance evaluation
+$60 monitoring fee at 2nd appointment (then monthly)
+$350 out-of-state fee
-----------------
$610 BEFORE any counseling

Guess what we'll be spending my husband's Christmas bonus on?

The football game didn't start until 8:30 last night, so my husband had to miss it again. But all the kitties watched it with me. I've trained Buddy to give me a kinda high five. By the end of the season, he'll be all the way there lol. The Pats won big, but there were a lot of injuries again. It was a good game.

I'm going to try not to think about the evaluation, counseling, and price tag until it's an impending threat. It could be triggering and I need to keep my stress level low.

I clipped Dottie and Buddy's nails yesterday. They were long overdue. Turns out Buddy just needed a manicure to get the High-5 right lol. It's hilarious. I'm going to have to do Rocky's nails today. He's a BIG BOY at 26lbs. He's a baby and he puts up a terrible fight. I can only clip a couple of nails at a time before he flips out, bucks me, runs and hides. It might take 2 days to finish his.

I also wrapped my nephews' presents. That's when you start to hate having cats... they're all over everything.... the presents, the paper, the tape, the tags, the cellophane from the wrapping paper tube.... They try to chew, paw at, and walk all over everything. But the presents are safe now, and packed up to be brought to the post office Saturday. I don't care if they chew the shipping box.
We stopped putting up a tree a couple of years ago. It got to be too much trouble with the three cats.

Today I'm going to get started on the Christmas cards we're sending out. I used to send a lot, but most of my friends stopped contacting me after my s/s attempt. I can sign my husband's name to to the cards for the few of my family members my husband can tolerate, but I'm only addressing the envelopes for the cards to his family members. They don't want anything to do with me because my husband and I were separated for 4mo last year, and because they don't support his decision to reconcile with me (we've been back together since January) in light of my mental health issues. It's painful. I doubt he'll think it's appropriate for me to sign my name on the cards. He can sign them himself when he gets home.

Kay